Dead
by Ohka Breynekai
Summary: In one tragic moment, Danny's life has fallen to pieces. His father's dead, mother's depressed, and his friends have abandoned him. And he's convinced it's all his fault. But what happens when Vlad enters the picture with one shattering piece of informati
1. Prologue

**Please, don't kill me for posting this, when I already said I wasn't going to work on anything but Twin Heroes. I promise I will keep up with both of them, as much as I can with school starting Monday and everything. **

_**Summary: **In one tragic moment, Danny's life has fallen to pieces. His father's dead, mother's depressed, and his friends have abandoned him. And he's convinced it's all his fault. But what happens when Vlad enters the picture with one shattering piece of information? That Jack Fenton is worse than dead? And that only Danny can save him?_

**I don't have much more to say here except, read, review, and again, DON'T KILL ME.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom, and probably never will.**

_**Dead**_

_**Prologue**_

'Jack is dead.'

The words kept running through her mind as she stared at the gravestone.

Jack Fenton

1959-2006

Beloved father, husband, and friend

You will live in our hearts forever

Maddie's vision blurred with new tears.

She hadn't believed it when they told her. Maddie had been in the lab enhancing one of her latest inventions, the Fenton Spectral Energy Revealer. It was installed in her goggles and let her see any ectoplasmic energy in the form of light.

Suddenly, Jazz had screamed from upstairs. Maddie was out of the lab in seconds. In the living room, Danny was on the couch, his head buried in his arms. His clothes were singed, torn, and bloody, and fresh blood continued to ooze from several deep gashes. He smelled like soot and she could tell from the way his shoulders heaved that he was crying.

Jazz was just standing there, staring at her brother, pale, shaking, open-mouthed.

"Jazz? Danny? What…?"

Danny raised his head and looked her in the eyes. His face was blackened with ashes and Maddie could tell that some of his hair had burned away. The tears left bright streams through the blood and dirt on his face.

"Mom, I… I didn't mean to… I tried to stop it, I… I wasn't strong enough…" Danny hung his head again. "I'm sorry…" His last words came in a whisper.

Maddie rushed over to her son and pulled his face back up. "Danny, _what happened_? What did this to you? Were you in a fire? Please-"

"Mom," Jazz interrupted. "It's- it's not D-Danny. It's Dad. He's… he's dead."

Maddie couldn't remember what had happened next. It was all a blur of ambulances and hospital rooms. And she forced herself not to remember identifying Jack's nearly unidentifiable body.

But she did remember one minute of talking to the chief of police.

"What caused this?" she had asked. He told her it was a ghost attack on the warehouses near the docks. Jack must have been fighting them, and the battle strayed too close to where fuel was stored. The entire place caught flame and in minutes most of the area was engulfed.

Terrible images came to her mind then, but she forced past them to ask,

"Which ghost?"

"Danny Phantom."


	2. Chapter 1

**Hello! I'm back again! **

**Wow, I got more reviews than I was expecting for the prologue (I wasn't expecting over two, actually...) I'm glad everyone liked it! Now, a few notes about the story: I'm going to post a new chapter every Friday until I get to Chapter 10 or so, and each chapter will be approximately this long. I've prewritten a lot of this story, so you can count on me being on schedule.**

**That's it for me! Read and review!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom.**

_**Chapter One**_

(present- two months after Jack's death)

Danny Fenton sat on the OP center, staring out silently across the moonlit city. The night was perfectly clear, and each star was etched brightly against the blackness. It would have been the perfect night for a fly to the country, but Danny chose to obey gravity. Really, he doubted he would ever fly again.

He had made a promise. He had vowed to never let his family fall at his hands. Yet now, just because he had been connected to spirits, the Fentons were one member less. He had even failed to destroy the ghost who began the fight.

Another tear slid down his face. He had promised…

"Danny?" Footsteps echoed behind him as his sister came up. Jazz knelt beside him on the cool metal, and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Mom wants you to come downstairs. She wants to talk to you."

Danny made no effort to move.

"Danny, please… it might be important."

Danny ignored her and continued to stare out into the sky. Almost every night had been like this in Amity Park for the last two months. Peaceful. There weren't any screams or explosions sounding. The ghosts had all gone away.

Jazz waited for a few minutes before standing up with a sigh. She was worried for her brother. Most of his time was spent up here on the OP center, even time needed for school. She didn't even think Danny had slept once since… Jazz knew he blamed himself for what happened, and that self-punishment was why he hardly ate and hadn't spoken a word to anyone.

She even thought he had given up his ghost powers.

Taking one last look at his pale and bedraggled form, Jazz descended through the hatch.

Her mother was waiting for her on the second floor landing. "How is he?" Maddie asked immediately. Her expression was also haunted, she was thinner, and bits of gray streaked her hair.

Jazz shook her head. "Nothing. _You_ talk to him."

---

_He flew down into the warehouse. Of course the Box Ghost would run here. It was an old box factory, after all._

_Danny followed quickly, pulling out the Fenton Thermos. As he entered the building, a powerful wave of cold washed over him; he ignored it, passing it off as an ocean draft. Now, where did that idiot go?_

_Danny's ghost sense sparked again, making him choke. He turned around and was hit by an excruciating wave of crackling black energy._

"Danny?"

Her son jumped, apparently having been lost in a daydream. Maddie looked him over, and wondered why she hadn't noticed before how sickly he looked. Had she really been so caught up in her own emotions that she didn't even bother to take care of her children? Guilt flooded through her.

"Danny, I need to tell you something." Maddie sat on the cold metal next to him, wrapping an arm around his equally cold shoulders. "Will you talk to me?" Still, as Jazz had said, nothing. "Danny, I… I know you miss your father. I miss him too. More than you can ever imagine. But we… there are some things we just need to push through. We need to be strong. Jack would have wanted it…" Maddie cursed herself for beginning to cry again. 'Great way to be strong,' she thought sarcastically.

"Sweetie, I know I haven't exactly been there for you in the past few months, but-"

"It was my fault," he suddenly whispered, so quietly Maddie wasn't sure if he had even spoken.

"Danny, it's not your fault," she replied just as quietly. "There was nothing you could have done."

"Yes there was!" Danny replied angrily, his voice cracking from lack of use. "I could have not been distracted, I could've fought harder, I could have defended him! Hell, I could've at least gone down with him! There was everything in the world I could've done, but I just stood there and watched that son of a bitch get away with it! And what about me? Nothing, not one scratch on me."

Maddie didn't know what to say. This was her first glimpse of what had actually happened during the battle.

"It wasn't an accident?" She had gotten the impression that the fight had just strayed to close to the fuel tanks. Was the fire actually _intended_?

"Of course it wasn't an accident," Danny growled bitterly. "You should have heard him laughing when he blasted those oil tanks."

"Phantom?"

"No… Phantom was gone by that point…"

"Then who?"

Danny turned away from her. "I let him get away…"

"Danny?"

No reply.

"Danny, we're moving."

**Thanks to: ghostgirl10427, purrbaby101, Iluvdolphins, animegurl088, and TheSummoningDark**

**I'll see you next Friday!**


	3. Chapter 2

**Yes, please strangle me for posting this late. Please. I feel so guilty... All I can say is, school is so busy already, I want to scream. But, what can you expect? It's my own fault for taking almost all the advanced classes I could lay my hands on. I promise, or you can go farther than strangling me, I will have the next chapter up ON TIME. Still, read, and enjoy, like always.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom.**

_**Chapter Two**_

(one month earlier)

Frozen. It was nothing but a frozen moment in time. But at least he was there. They were together, and he was smiling his goofy bug-eyed smile.

Maddie held the picture to her chest. Fresh tears streamed down her face once more, but they came so often that she just ignored them.

She sat that way for an endless amount of time, remembering what had happened the day the picture was captured…

_"C'mon Danny!" Jack yelled. "Get in the picture! We can't have a Fenton Family Photo without every Fenton. Heck, I even wanted to call your granny up here!"_

_"Jack, your mom's in Hawaii," Maddie pointed out, setting up the camera._

_"Exactly!" He turned back to the stairs. "Danny, stop being a hermit and come down here!"_

_A crash sounded above them, and Danny's door slammed open. He stumbled out, tripping, and rolling back up to jump down the stairs about four at a time._

_"I'm…here…" he panted, landing, and holding a hand to his side. His face was red and sweaty._

_"Danny, what have you been doing up there?" Maddie asked, wiping down his face._

_"Nothing…" he breathed. "Just a bit… of exercising."_

_Maddie laughed and ran her fingers through her son's raven black hair. 'Boys…' she thought with a smile._

_Jack finished setting up the camera and Maddie positioned her family in the center of the living room._

_"Everyone ready?" she asked, preparing to set the timer._

_Danny and Jazz nodded, but Jack suddenly yelled, "Wait! Let's take it in front of FentonWorks! So when who knows who finds this picture, they'll know who the big spiffy dude and his family are!" He grabbed the camera stand and ran out the front door._

_Maddie rolled her eyes and followed after him._

_About five minutes later, the Fentons were again centered before the camera, this time with the large glowing "fentonWorks" sign hanging above them._

_"Everyone ready now?" she asked with a smile. They nodded, Jack with a "Yep!"_

_"Okay, smile!" She pushed the timer and ran to join in the frame beside her husband._

_Flash._

The phone began to ring. It took Maddie a second to actually realize what was happening. But finally, she rose off of the couch and went to the kitchen.

'Madison, Wisconsin' read the caller ID.

"Wisconsin area code…" she whispered. "Vlad?" Scrambling, she grabbed the phone and held it to her ear. "Hello?"

"**Maddie!**" a deep tone sounded through the speaker. "**How are you?**"

"I'm…" She stopped, thinking that it would take the entire day to describe how she felt.

"**That good? Yes, I heard what happened to Jack, my poor bumbling friend. He deserved better than to fall at the cold hands of that which he hunted.**"

"Why are you calling, Vlad?" Maddie asked, slightly angry. She hadn't forgotten how Vlad had tried to persuade her and Danny to leave Jack and live with him instead. It made her wonder if he really cared that Jack was dead at all.

"**Why, can't a friend offer comfort to the ones he cares about? Right now, all I care for is you Maddie. I'm worried.**"

"Don't be Vlad. I'm fine. I can take care of myself."

"**It is not a crime to grieve, my dear. Even I, the cold and heartless thing I am, have mourned in my time. Now, I just want to give aid, in any way possible.**"

Maddie ground her teeth. "I told you, _I'm fine_."

"**What about Jasmine? And Daniel? I understand that he was there when it happened? I know that he does not take trauma very easily.**"

"How dare you tell me about my own children! I know more than you ever could."

"**Did Daniel go to school this morning?**"

"Of course!"

"**Did you see him leave?**"

"Well, no…"

"**When's the last time he's spoken to you? Where did you see him last?**"

"I…" Maddie remembered when she saw her son last. It was two weeks ago, at the funeral. And the last time he had spoken to her… had been to apologize for Jack's death. Almost a month ago.

"_What do you want, Vlad_?" she asked again, in a growl.

"**Just to offer you my home. I find it helps to take your mind off of things when you aren't constantly being reminded of them.**" Maddie glanced at the refrigerator, where a picture hung of her and Jack at their wedding. "**If you ever feel the need to get away, my doors are open.**"

"Thanks, but no thanks. Goodbye." Without waiting for a reply, she slammed the phone back on the receiver.

Fuming, she went upstairs and collapsed on her bed.

**Thanks to: Horselvr4evr123, Straying Life, TheSummoningDark, Kantrix Gabriel, purrbaby101**

**I WILL see you all next Friday.**


	4. Chapter 3

**Hello! I'm late again (by only a few hours, but still...) I'm going to try posting on Saturdays from now on, and see how that works.**

I don't really like this chapter very well, but it's the best I could do. I hope you like it, all the same. RxR!

Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom. Nope:(

_**Chapter Three**_

(one day before present)

Maddie fingered her goggles, thinking. She let her thumb slide over the button that activated the Energy Revealer. She had never finished repairing it. 'Should I even bother?' she asked herself with a sigh. There hadn't been a ghost attack in weeks. What would be the point?

The front door opened and Jazz entered. She headed straight to the stairs, but stopped, glancing to the kitchen and her mother. Looking as if she was fighting with herself, she shook her head and approached the woman.

"Mom, we need to talk."

Maddie looked up, acting almost surprised to see her daughter. "Jazz? Is school over already?"

"Yes."

Maddie craned her neck to see the rest of the living room. Empty.

"Did Danny go home with Tucker?"

"No, he's here. He's _been_ here."

"He didn't go to school?"

"This is what we need to talk about!" Jazz almost yelled, exasperated. "Danny hasn't gone to school in weeks! All he does is sit up on the OP center catching pneumonia!"

"This has been going on for _weeks_? Why are you telling me _now_?"

"I've tried telling you! Several times in fact! But your own self-pity and depression hasn't been letting your brain comprehend anything around you! Mom, Danny _needs_ you! Please!"

Maddie stared at Jazz in shock. This wasn't true! It couldn't be! Maddie would never be that selfish! But…

"He needs you," Jazz whispered again. "Please, Mom."

"I… I need to think." Maddie stood and started towards the stairs.

"That's what you always say! You need to _do_ something! Stop _thinking_ and get your son off the roof!"

"Jazz, leave me alone!" she shouted back. Maddie went up to her room and locked the door, falling onto her bed once more.

_"What about Jasmine? And Daniel? I understand that he was there when it happened? I know he does not take trauma very easily… When's the last time he's spoken to you? Where did you see him last?"_

He was right. That cheesehead was right! She had practically forgotten that her children existed! All because of Jack…

_"I find it helps to take your mind off of things when you aren't constantly being reminded of them. If you ever feel the need to get away, my doors are open."_

Maddie rolled over and her eyes fell on her phone.

Could she really do it? Just pick up and leave what had been her home for the last eighteen years? Would it make a bit of difference?

And there it was, the Fenton Family Photo. Yes, it would make a difference. This place was as bad as a ghost. It was just an empty shell full of haunting memories, slowly draining them all.

Maddie closed her eyes and tried to remember Jazz's face. Pale, thin, dark bags under dull eyes… this depression had gripped her too. Yet she was still keeping her head, being the only reasonable here.

It was time for Maddie to do the same.

She grabbed the phone and scrolled through the numbers, finally finding 'Vlad Masters'.

It rang several times, before at last,

"**Hello?**"

"Vlad, hi; it's Maddie. I was just thinking about your offer…"

"**…And?**"

"I accept."

**This was rather short, wasn't it? Hmm... All in favor of getting the next chapter today, say "I!"**

Thanks to: ghostgirl14027, TheSummoningDark, and Kantrix Gabriel 


	5. Chapter 4

**Okay! I've decided! I'm the most absent-minded person alive. I finally got back to my computer and read the reviews for Chapter 3, and wondered, "Why is everyone putting 'I' at the beginning of their reviews?" And then, it finally hit me in the head with a brick. Heh... So, for all those who said "I", here's another chapter! And, Kantrix Gabriel, you'll be happy to know that this is longer, and it's a Danny chapter!**

As always, read, review, and please enjoy!

_**Chapter Four**_

(the present)

Could it get any worse?

Danny stared at the cars below, trying to conceal the look of horror spreading across his face.

How could she do this to them? 'How can she do it to Dad? It's… it's _betrayal_.'

"Danny?" Maddie reached out to her son again, but he jerked away. His hands were clenched tight, and unknown to Maddie, his eyes were glowing a brilliant emerald.

"It will be better," she whispered. "For all of us. We need to-" But she didn't get to finish that thought. Danny had jumped up and ran stiffly to the hatch, jumping inside and disappearing into the darkness of the OP center.

Maddie followed quickly after him. She reached the second floor just in time to see Danny's door slam shut and hear it lock with a loud click.

Danny pressed his back against the door, sliding slowly downward. Fresh tears rolled down his face again, tears of rage. What had he done wrong?

Ever since the moment he had gotten his powers, he had tried to protect everyone. Not just his family, not just his friends; _everyone_. Wasn't there some greater force out there that was supposed to keep life in a balance of good and evil?

Danny had saved so many people, so many times, that he couldn't even remember _half_ of them. And now, now his life was falling apart.

"Life isn't fair, Danny," Sam always told him. "That's why you always get detention making sure Technus doesn't form the new world order, and why Amity Park can't see their hero as a hero. But Danny, you're not alone."

"Yeah," Tucker would agree. "We're here for you every minute of it."

Where were they now? This was when he needed them, _now_.

"Tucker…" he whispered. "Sam…"

---

_It was too bright. It was almost like the Earth was celebrating, with the pleasant, unnaturally warm and sunny weather, the birds singing sweetly in the background, the fragrant scents of nature wafting up around them… and it all made Danny sick._

_Danny, dressed in black as deep-colored as his hair, blending into all the other dark-dressed people gathered there. They formed together in a semi-circle, some sitting, some standing, watching the last few people approach the pit._

_Jazz retreated to the back of the group, sobbing audibly. Danny gazed after her, feeling that unbearable pain from his heart once more._

_He felt a nudge from behind and something was slipped into his hand. Reluctantly and stumbling, he moved forward, staring down at the brightly colored flowers he held. Their large petals fanned out in all directions, and they turned out to be one source of that overwhelming odor. He vaguely remembered why flowers were used at funerals in the past: to hide the stench of rotting flesh._

_After an eternity of treading over the manicured ground, he was there. Shaking, he looked down at the long box, praying that he wouldn't fall in too. Flowers piled on top of it, scattered randomly across its polished surface._

_This couldn't be real. That wasn't his dad in there. It was somebody else's, it was empty. Danny's knees buckled and the bouquet fell loosely from his hand. It floated down and landed in the center of all the other carnations and roses._

_Danny passed his mother on the way back to his seat. She looked twenty years older, and it was unbelievable how much weight she had lost in the past two weeks. Her face was drawn and pale, and her eyes lifeless. Her hair had begun to lose its color._

_What had he done?_

_Forgetting his place next to Grandma Sophie, Danny walked back to where his friends stood at a respectful distance._

_Without looking at them, Danny whispered, "I can't take it anymore. I have to get out of here."_

_Sam nodded, grabbed his hand, and began to guide him away from the crowd of people, into the nearby forest. It was the place she had gone when her grandfather died and she hadn't wanted her parents to find her._

_They ended up in a clearing, about the size of Lancer's classroom. The sun dappled it with light, but it was surprisingly cool, and thankfully not suffocating like the gathering. _

_The three of them sat together in silence, Danny with his head resting on Sam's shoulder and Tucker holding his hand._

_"Sam?" said Danny suddenly._

_"Yeah, Danny?" she whispered back._

_"Why did this happen? Did I do something wrong?"_

_The Goth turned to him and brushed his hair out of his eyes. "Of course not. It was the other ghost, the black one. I'm sure you did everything you could."_

_"But you're wrong, Sam. I didn't."_

_"What do you mean?" asked Tucker._

_"I… right at that last moment, when Dad saw me like that, we were both in shock. I let my attention slip, and gave that thing just enough time to attack. If I had just held him off a little bit longer, Dad could've escaped, I could've gotten the Thermos."_

_"Dude, you know you didn't do any of that," Tucker argued._

_"You weren't there!" Danny yelled back. "Neither of you saw what really happened. Neither of you can get it through your thick skulls that I messed up!"_

_" 'Thick skulls'?" Tucker pulled his hand away, glaring slightly. Sam took Danny's hand instead._

_"Danny, we're just trying to help. I understand what you're going through."_

_"How?" he growled, pulling away from both of them. "You're not losing your dad. You're not having to watch your life disintegrate around you. Did you see what my mom looked like? Like hell. Worse than hell. And Jazz isn't Jazz anymore. Do you even care?" _

_"Of course we care," Tucker snapped. "Your dad was practically my dad too."_

_"And mine. He's the closest thing I ever had to a dad. Certainly better than my own."_

_"So how many times have you cried for him?" Danny asked. "How many nights have been sleepless for you? Enough times that I could probably count them on one hand and still have fingers left over. Please, stop trying to hold my hand and tell me it will be okay. Stop pretending like you care what I'm going through."_

_Sam stood, her eyes narrowed. "So that's all our friendship's been to you? Pretend?" She backed up several steps, and Tucker scrambled to join her. "I've loved you like a brother, almost since the day we met, and sometimes even more than that. Every time you go off to fight some ghost, I get scared for you. I cried when I though you weren't coming back from Pariah's lair." She turned and started back to the funeral. "I cared for you more than you could ever imagine."_

_Danny stared in shock at her retreating form. "Sam?" He turned to his other friend. "Tucker? Please, you know I didn't mean it."_

_"Sorry man. I'm with Sam on this one." And with that, Tucker exited the clearing._

_"No, please, come back!" Danny cried desperately. "Don't go! Don't go..."_

_When Tucker Foley was almost out of view of the clearing, he took one glance back to see Danny sobbing uncontrollably._

**Aww, poor Danny :(  
Now, I have no idea when the next chapter will be up, but no later than next Saturday. Yep. So, time for all Ohka Breynekai's to go to bed!**

Thanks to: haruhikitty1991, The Demon Inside, and Kantrix Gabriel. You are the people that keep me going. 


	6. Chapter 5

**I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date! No time to say "Hello! Goodbye!" I'm late, I'm late, I'm late! Yes, sadly, this is growing into a habit for me. Four months late on Bait (ooh, that rhymed), almost a month on Twin Heroes, I don't know _how long_ on Epidemic and Living Up to Half Alive... Add another reason to why I am the most absent-minded person in the world!**

**To make up for the four days this chapter wasn't up, I made it longer and considerably better. It's a half-and-half chapter; Sam the first half, Danny the second. The original was mainly direct points, move on! I took my time to elaborate this version. And, enough rambling! Read and review!**

**Disclaimer: I do not, and will never own Danny Phantom! And this will go for all of the chapters of Dead from this point on.**

_**Chapter Five**_

(six weeks after Jack's death)

"An 'iamb'," Mr. Lancer droned on, "is a meter of two syllables in poetry. The first syllable is normally stressed, and the second, unstressed. 'Stressed' meaning that more natural force is put into annunciating the sound. An example would be the word 'jumping'. Everyone, pronounce that with me. Jump-ing. C'mon people! Jump-ing!"

"Jumping," murmured Sam with a roll of her eyes. She really thought both syllables sounded about the same, but she wasn't really into the whole 'iambic pentameter' thing. It was most commonly used in sonnets, but didn't Mr. Lancer know that most Americans wrote free verse nowadays?

Exhaling irritably, she turned to look out the window. That was a mistake; she had forgotten whose empty desk was right below it- Danny's.

Sam frowned. He hadn't been to school since Mr. Fenton died. Yes, it was normal to get a few days off for mourning, and the funeral, but it had been over a month now. She couldn't help but wonder what had happened in these last four weeks, how bad things had become for him and his remaining family.

Sam hadn't seen Danny once since they had their fight. Tucker told her he had looked pretty devastated after she left him. But of course: Danny had just lost his only two friends at his father's funeral. Who wouldn't be heartbroken in a situation like that?

Guilt sliced through her chest, making her wince. The thoughts she had been repressing were beginning to push through her defenses. Full of self-pity, depression, and _weakness_. She couldn't afford to let these feelings run rampant; she was the master of her soul. Sam picked up her pen to start on the worksheet Lancer had given.

Her hand was shaking.

In the long run, all of this was her fault: destroying what little Danny had left of his happiness, losing her friendship with Jazz, making Tucker lose _his _friendships, and even, in a roundabout chain of events, Jack's death... Though she wasn't about to let the Fenton's know that. If Danny ever found out it had been her to tip Jack off on the battle at the docks... Nothing ever worked out the way it was meant to. It was meant as an excuse, not a road map! If only she had known, if only she had thought things through...

'I don't think, that's my problem! I don't think! And I've ruined my life and everyone's around me!'

She couldn't believe she had exploded at him. Why couldn't she have dealt with his outburst calmly? Sam finally understood, Danny wasn't angry at her and Tucker; he was angry at himself, but they were the only ones to take it out on. 'I don't think...'

Sam had tried to talk to him, apologize for what she had said, but every time she called FentonWorks, either no one would answer, or Jazz would and say Danny couldn't talk. The results were the same when Sam stopped by in person. And even Tucker was turned down when he tried.

She didn't know what else to do. She just didn't know.

With a sigh, Sam turned her tear-blurred eyes down onto her notebook. 'Goth's don't cry, even if everything they loved has collapsed around them.' She picked up her pen again, and prepared to disappear into poetry.

---

_Danny was thrown down, hard. The energy crackled through him painfully for what seemed an eternity. But finally, it faded and Danny was able to pull himself out of the rubble pile he created._

_Above him floated a large ghost, electric black like the attack sent at him. It smiled menacingly, but hey, didn't every evil being?_

_Danny flew up in front of the newcomer, his hands sparkling with his own green energy._

_"Who are you supposed to be?" he asked. "You look like a bad copy of Johnny 13's Shadow."_

_The other ghost didn't reply, just looked at Danny, seeming to size him up._

_"Not a talker? I thought all villains were into witty banter, but I guess you're just too dark for that." Smirking, Danny blasted the ghost, but to his surprise, the attack went right through it._

_In return, it let out a chilling laugh and swooped down on the boy._

Danny jerked awake. He quickly tried to blink away the fangs, red eyes, and blindingly dark body. That was why he didn't sleep anymore; every time he let his mind wander, Danny saw that _thing_.

He slowly realized that he was still pressed against his door and that light was flickering through his closed blinds. It was morning. Which really only meant a few hours closer to Vlad.

Danny's mom had said they would leave as soon as they were packed, but also that they weren't going to stay with Vlad forever. Danny didn't know how easy it would be to keep that promise. Vlad would do everything in his power to make sure they _didn't_ leave.

This was bad. This was really bad. But for the first time in months, Danny's head felt almost clear. He didn't know if it was the sleep, or just a distraction from wallowing in self-pity… wait, did he just admit to that?

He shook his head. No time to think about his state of mind, he just needed to stop this.

"Ow," he groaned as he pulled his stiff body off of the ground. He felt sick, and weak. How had he stood this for two months? 'No, think about the now, not the then, while you can actually _think_.'

It was 7:40 now, so hopefully everyone would be in the kitchen.

But… they weren't. Danny turned to run back up the stairs, but he heard a crash down in the lab. Shaking, he realized it must be a ghost.

The Fenton Thermos was destroyed in the- 'No, don't say it'- so the only thing he could do was either shoot it with the Bazooka, suck it up in the Weasel, or push it directly into the Ghost Zone. But either way, he was going to have to fight it.

Glancing back into the living room, Danny confirmed his solitude and brought forth those familiar white rings. They moved up and down his body with a sickening icyness, like having your blood replaced with liquid nitrogen, or so Danny thought right then. His dirty clothes changed into a sleek black jumpsuit with white gloves, boots, belt, and collar, with a white P-inside-a-D insignia on the chest. His black hair turned snow white, and crystal blue eyes to that brilliant emerald.

Taking one deep, unneeded breath, Danny flew intangibly through the floor.

"Okay, whoever's there, you had better leave, or I'll- oops." Where Danny had expected Skulker, he saw his mother, sweeping up broken glass.

Maddie dropped the broom. "_You_!" she growled.

"Um… hi?"

This… this was worse than Vlad. Much worse.

**Ooh, did I just make an evil cliffie? Mwuaahahahahahaaaa!**

**Update next, I mean THIS Friday, FOR SURE! **

**Thanks to: DP fan, haruhikitty1991, Kantrix Gabriel, Horselvr4evr123, The Demon Inside, Linkmaste, TheSummoningDark, crazyvi**

**Oh, and small favor: I have about five or six ideas for future stories listed in my profile, under "Future Stories". So, if you could check them out and tell me which one you're most interested in, I can decide on which on to do after I finish one of my ongoing stories. Thanks! )**


	7. Chapter 6

**Well, here's the next chapter! And probably the first spelling and grammar mistakes you'll ever see from me. You can blame that on one thing... this safety delete-all-violent-words-you-try-to-write thing in the documents section has got to stop. I try to write m u r d e r e r and it comes out as er. What is 'er' supposed to mean to the reader? And then b l o o d? What _really_ gets on my nerves is how the thing doesn't get rid of words that are actually violent! If there's a way to disable or trick it, someone please tell me, please. Well, until then, I'm going to improvise. You'll get the point, it just won't look right. -sigh- Okay, my rant is over.**

Read! Read away!

_**Chapter Six**_

How dare he! How dare he show his face here again! 'Just to pis me off; his sick idea of fun.'

Maddie leaped across the glass and grabbed the largest gun in sight.

"You basterd!" she cried, sending a blast at Phantom. He dodged, eyes wide with fright. "You God-damned _son of a bitch!_" She blasted again, still missing. "You killed Jack! You killed my husband!"

Maddie grabbed another gun and continued to shoot at the specter. "Go to hell! Just _go to hell_!"

Finally, one shot landed on his stomach. Phantom yelled in pain and was sent through the ceiling. Maddie ran after him, she wanted to see him suffer. She wanted to destroy him, rip him apart, molecule by molecule.

He was not bleeding on the kitchen floor like she had hoped.

"Come back, you coward!"

Something hit the floor directly above her. Maddie narrowed her eyes; it was in Danny's room.

Maddie raced up the stairs and prepared to kick the door down, when she heard something unexpected: crying.

"Danny? What's wrong? Is Phantom in there!" She tried opening the door. It was still locked.

"Go away!" her son cried.

"Danny, is he-"

"_Go away!_"

"But…" she sighed. She had lost the merderer, and her son didn't even want to look at her.

As she turned to go back downstairs, one thought went through her head.

'The sooner we move, the better.'

---

(7:50)

'Why did the bus have to break down?' Sam wondered as she walked through the rain.

"Why, _today!_" Lightning flashed behind her, illuminating the dark street.

Actually, just an hour ago, it had been bright and sunny, but as she left her house, the clouds had sprung up. And by the time she reached the bus stop, it had begun to sprinkle.

Then, the bus never showed up, and it poured.

Another flash of light shined in front of her. But this one wasn't stretching across the sky. No, it came from a window. Sam's eyes widened. A window of FentonWorks. Danny's window.

She gasped and sprinted to the building, slipping several times on the wet pavement. With a desperate air to her, she pounded on the door while ringing the doorbell simultaneously.

A minute or so later, the door opened. Jazz. When she saw Sam, she sighed. "Not today, Sam. He's not talking to anyone."

"Well, he's going to talk to _me_. Let me in."

"Sam, this is a really bad day for him. Just go to school."

"_You_ aren't going."

"I have to help Mom. Please, some other time."

"I _demand_ to talk to him!"

Jazz began to close the door. "I'm sorry, Sam."

"No you're not! Let me in!"

With one more tired sigh, Jazz shut the door and locked it. Locked it!

Growling, Sam ran to the backyard and jumped the fence. She scooped up a handful of pebbles and began to throw them at Danny's window. She _was_ going to talk to him.

Finally, the window opened and a familiar black-haired head poked out. Danny ran his hands across his eyes and squinted down at her.

"Sam?" he whispered.

"Danny, I'm coming up." He just blinked at her and backed away from the window, out of sight. But he left it open.

Shaking, Sam began to pull herself up the drainpipe, which is actually very hard to do when the metal is slick and you are nervous about seeing your best friend who you hadn't seen since you had a fight six weeks ago and had left devastated and heartbroken.

After sliding down several times, she made it to the top. This was it. Soaked, Sam swung herself through the window.

This was it.

**Meh, I appologize for the shortness. There wasn't much more I could stuff into this part. Ah well. The next chapter is a Jazz chapter, completely Jazz. Then we're back to Danny! hehe, okay, time to stop again...**

Thanks to: DP fan, The Demon Inside, Kantrix Gabriel, Linkmaste, ghostgirl14027, crazyvi

And thank you everyone who checked out the ideas for my future stories! If anyone else want to look, just go to my profile, scroll down to the middle of the page, and read the "Future Stories" section. Thank you so much! (so far, Dastardly Double is winning. I'll see what my Twin Heroes people think) 


	8. Chapter 7

**Heylo! Sorry for extreme lateness! Busy as heck at school, and home, and everywhere. But, I finally got around to posting this! YAY! So, pretend like this was on time and read! **

_**Chapter 7**_

(7:45 AM)

Jazz ran the brush slowly through her long red hair. The movement was calming, exactly what she needed at the moment.

She wasn't sure if she should be happy or outraged at her mother's decision. On one hand, though she hated to think about it… Danny was dying. Slowly, but the signs were there. He barely ate, slept even less, and was purposefully putting himself in harm's way. Jazz knew that sitting out in near freezing temperatures was an attempt to numb the emotional pain he was feeling. The only thing saving him from illness so far was the fact that his ghost half already made him colder than should be allowed in a human being.

But how much longer would he have been able to last?

It was good that Maddie was finally taking action. Action to help Danny and herself recover. The idea of getting away from the harmful memories was also good thinking on her part. Yet Vlad's mansion wasn't the right place to get away to.

'Danny must feel that Mom's trying to move on to another man.' That would certainly explain his reaction the night before. 'He must feel so betrayed… Or maybe it's just the fact that Vlad wanted to kill…'

"Come back, you coward!"

Jazz dropped the hairbrush, startled. Was that her mom? She got up and ran over to the door, peeking her head out just in time to see Maddie rush past her, holding a large gun.

The woman stopped in front of Danny's door, and raised her leg in a stance to kick. But she stopped.

"Danny? What's wrong? Is Phantom in there!" Her mother jiggled the handle, but the door must've been locked.

Jazz's eyes widened. 'Did she just say _Phantom_? But Danny said he wasn't going to go ghost anymore! Surely he wouldn't be stupid enough to- No, Jasmine, you're getting ahead of yourself. Don't rise to conclusions before you have all the facts.'

"Go away!" she heard Danny yell.

"Danny, is he-"

"_Go away!_"

"But…" Maddie sighed and turned to go back downstairs. Jazz emerged fully from her room and grabbed her mother's arm.

"Mom? What happened? Is everything okay?"

Maddie shook her head wearily, not meeting her daughter's eyes. "No. Nothing is okay. But it will be, when we get out of this hellhole." With that, Maddie retreated back down the stairs. Jazz stared after her for several seconds, before turning to stare at Danny's door. A soft weeping leaked out from under it.

She took a step towards the bedroom, but was interrupted by the doorbell. 'What _now_?' The bell rang repeatedly in a frantic sort of way, accompanied by furious knocks. Jazz hurried down the stairs to find out what could be so urgent.

When she swung the door open, though, she let out an irritated breath. It was Sam, _again_.

"Not today, Sam. He's not talking to anyone." 'Especially not you,' Jazz added in her mind. Sam and Tucker abandoning him had been the breaking point; though they said they wanted to apologize, Jazz wasn't about to let Danny get hurt again.

Sam's eyes narrowed angrily. 'Here it comes…' "Well, he's going to talk to _me_. Let me in."

"Sam, this is a really bad day for him." And it was, though she didn't know why. She needed to get upstairs and find out what was wrong, and soon. For all Jazz knew, Danny could be bleeding to death on his bedroom floor. "Just go to school."

"_You_ aren't going."

"I have to help Mom. Please, some other time." She mentally hit herself. Now the Goth would come back again.

Sam's eyes flared. "I _demand _to talk to him!"

It was time to end this. "I'm sorry, Sam."

"No, you're not! Let me in!" Jazz shook her head tiredly and sighed once more. How long would she have to deal with this girl? She shut the door, and locked it, in case Sam tried to sneak in later.

Jazz started back up the stairs, only to be stopped again.

"Jazz, there you are." Maddie walked into the room carrying an armload of boxes, which she proceeded to shove into Jazz's arms. "Come downstairs and help me pack up the lab. We may be able to leave by tomorrow morning, if we hurry. Vlad says he's going to send someone to move everything for us, and we can fly there in a private jet."

Jazz frowned. "You're sure eager to get there," she mumbled. She glanced up the stairs to Danny's room.

Her mother saw her do this. "Don't worry," she whispered. "He'll be fine, once we're gone from here. Now come on, I want to take all of the equipment."

Anxious, Jazz followed Maddie into the kitchen.

**Yes, this chapter was just to explain Jazz's opinion of everything going on, and why she's been keeping Tucker and Sam away from Danny. I felt it was needed. The next chapter will be the continuation of the "THIS IS IT" of chapter six. And, I will have it up in a couple of days, PROMISE.**

**Thanks to: TheSummoningDark, Kantrix Gabriel, DP fan, Punker88, crazyvi, Fallen Angel-Risen Demon, The Demon Inside, ghostgirl14027**


	9. Chapter 8

**I told you I'd have it up soon! **

**Eh, this chapter's a rather short one... oh well, not one of my favorites, but it'll do... I only have two more chappies written already, so I need to get my butt in gear, and soon. Yes, I know, that was random. Yep...**

_**Chapter Eight**_

Hatred. That's all she felt for him now. Pure hatred. But he deserved it. It was his fault, everything.

Click.

Danny barely felt the blood that ran through his fingers, or the pain that should have put his body in agony. It was all drowned out by the agony of his own heart.

Click.

She wanted to destroy him. Make him suffer for everything she had felt these past few weeks. Everything Jack must have felt in those last few seconds of life. He deserved it.

Click.

He needed to be punished. He needed to be shot, again and again. He needed to bleed.

Click.

Danny narrowed his eyes. What was that noise? It was interrupting his wallowing. Wait, he just said it again. Wallowing.

Letting out a laugh, he crawled to his window to see what was making that annoying sound. But the rain and his own tears blurred the world. Danny wiped his eyes and squinted down through the water.

His heart dropped to his knees.

"Sam?"

---

Sam almost screamed when she saw him. Blood, everywhere. Splattered on his clothes, the floor, the door, still oozing from somewhere on his stomach. Yet he was just sitting on his bed, smiling at her, like he didn't even feel anything.

"Danny? What the hell happened to you?"

"It doesn't matter," he replied, that smile still strong on his face. "I just realized what I've been doing wrong."

"I… Don't move." Sam ran to the door, trying to open it. It was locked. She almost screamed again, in exasperation. He would have just sat up here bleeding to death if she hadn't shown up.

She rushed down the hall, into the bathroom, and started grabbing towels and the first-aid kit. Then, she went back to Danny's room and locked the door. She thought she might have heard a "Sam!" from downstairs, but she didn't care.

Sam yanked his shirt off and began to clean the blood away. It looked as if part of his skin had been ripped away. The wound was a mixture of burns and long cuts. Biting her lip, she washed the area with disinfectants and wrapped several layers of gauze around the boy's middle.

Danny just watched her silently, his expression warm.

"Your powers should help heal it," Sam concluded, gazing at the mess of his room.

Danny saw her doing this, and reached out for her hand.

"I'll clean that up."

"Danny, you-"

He put a finger to her lips, quieting her. "I'm sorry Sam."

"For what?"

"You know what. I overreacted."

"No, I-"

"Did nothing. Nothing I didn't deserve. I've been doing everything wrong, Sam. I don't know why I didn't see it before, but all I've been doing is sitting feeling sorry for myself."

"Danny, you had every right to. I abandoned you."

"No, I had no right to." His smile suddenly fell. "I know it was my fault, that I'm the reason Dad's… But I still have a family to take care of. I think I've only made my mom more depressed than she already was, and Jazz has spent all of her spare time fretting over me."

"And keeping me away," Sam mumbled.

"What?"

"Nothing. Danny, I'm glad that you aren't going to be dumping on yourself anymore. Will you come back to school? I know Tucker would be happy to see you. He's been lost without you. He doesn't even get excited over new PDA designs anymore."

"Sam… I'm not going back to school."

"What do you mean? Why?"

"I've been destroying my family's happiness… I can't do that anymore. And I can't let ghosts hurt them either. They need to be protected."

"_You_ can protect them Danny!"

"No, I can't. That ghost proved it. They… all of us… we'd be much better off living with Vlad."

**Thanks to: soccergurl1990, Meagainsttheworld, crazyvi**

**I'm sure more people would have reviewed, if I had given them time. Right, peoples?**

**Look forward to another chapter soon!**


	10. Chapter 9

_**Chapter Nine**_

"Vlad?" Sam gaped at him. "How can you say that! He tried to kill your da- uh, _you_… and steal your mom! He's your archenemy! He's going to try and turn you evil, use your powers for darkness!"

"No. Because I'm not going to use my powers anymore. I'm tired of being a halfa, of being hated by everything around me. I'm tired of Danny Phantom."

"I don't hate you Danny," Sam whispered. "I still want you here. Are you going to leave me?"

"I… I have to," he replied.

"No… Danny, I just got you back."

"I'm sorry…"

Sam nodded, blinking back tears, but still keeping her head high. "Well, I guess if that's the way it has to be."

"It is."

"I'll just leave then. So you can pack." She headed for the door.

"Sam, don't-"

"Good luck Danny."

Jazz was just outside the door, looking quite frustrated. "Sam, I told you to- wait, is that _blood_? What happened?"

"Ask Danny," she answered simply, making her way to the stairs. He didn't care. He just didn't care. He was going to fall right into Vlad's hands. After everything they had done to stop the man, and Danny was just giving in. He didn't care. Not about anyone but himself. Vlad was the easy way out, and Danny was going to him with open arms. He didn't care. Not for Jazz, not for his mother, not for the town. Not for her. Falling into a dead sprint, Sam ran out the door and slammed it shut.

Jazz looked after Sam, confused. Then she turned to Danny's room and gasped. Jazz ran in, slammed the door, and locked it tight.

"Danny!" she whispered harshly. "What have you done to yourself?" Jazz took Sam's extra towels and began to mop up the floor. "Was it a ghost? What?"

Danny frowned, his mind still on Sam. Did she hate him again? That look on her face... and he had never heard her voice so cold.

Jazz snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Danny, answer me!"

"Mom shot me."

Jazz seemed taken aback at actually receiving an answer. "… _you_ you or ghost you?"

"Ghost me. I thought there was a ghost in the lab, but it was her and she was, well, _mad_…" 'Did she even hate me in the first place? I mean, she was angry, but she _did_ apologize.' Why did he have to ruin it so soon?

Jazz wiped down Danny's door where he had been lying. She kept glancing back at her brother. His face, for once, wasn't wearing an expression of pure sorrow and self-hatred. He merely looked thoughtful, regretting, and tired.

And he had talked!

"Danny, are you okay?"

"Huh?"

"You seem, well… sort of happier. I thought you would be furious with the whole Vlad thing."

Danny frowned again. "I was. But it's actually a good thing that we're going there."

Jazz dropped the saturated towel. "Did I just hear you say that? It's _good_ we're going to Vlad's?"

Danny merely nodded and turned his mind back to Sam. 'I don't have to stay with Vlad forever. Maybe when I'm old enough I can come back for her. Would she still want to be my friend?' Sam had never abandoned him before. Not even when he was being an absolute jerk. He could still fix things, right?

"Ugh! This isn't working!" Even after soaking the blood up thoroughly, it still stained the carpet, his bed sheets, and spots on the door. "Danny, put some clean clothes on and take your comforter out to the trash. Then get me that bottle of carpet cleaner and any other cleaning supplies you can find! Hurry, we can't let Mom see this!"

Danny nodded, reluctantly pulling his ruined pants off and taking a new pair from his dresser. He put a clean black T-shirt over his bandages, black so that nothing would show through it. He rolled up his bed-cover, putting the bloodied section in the inside to hide it.

This was all routine, except he had never lost so much blood before. It was making him woozy and lightheaded.

"Can't we just stash this in the closet?" he asked. "If Mom sees she'll wonder why I'm throwing my sheets in the dumpster.

"Fine, but please go get the cleaning stuff!"

Danny stared at her blankly. Why were her lips moving if she wasn't saying anything? The edges of his vision began to blur.

"Danny? Danny!" Jazz waved her hands in front of his eyes, but her brother wasn't seeing anything. He was shaking and extremely pale.

And suddenly, he collapsed.

"Oh my God. Danny!"

---

**Not my best work, not by far, but as much as I've tried to revise it, I can't seem to do anything with it. **

**This was actually written several months ago. I'm at school right now, feel blahseh, and just wanted to update something, I didn't care what. So, here you go! And I promise I'll try to work on this again.**

**And... sorry for leaving you with ANOTHER cliffie. (still evil, through and through) **

**Thanks to: ****Linkmaste, ghostgirl14027, Me-agaisnt-the-world, soccergurl1990, Asilla, danitonfen13, crazyvi, DP fan, Kantrix Gabriel, Shenhua Phantom, phantom-willow217, animegurl088, Yenattirb, odi8200, Jideni3**


	11. Chapter 10

**As Monk would say, here's what happened:  
I was sorting through my email and I found a folder I called "Reviews" which is where I move all of the reviews you guys send me. I scrolled down through the list and I though, 'Wow, that's a long list.' It made me feel really nostalgic, especially for old stories like Dead and Epidemic. Well, I continued on to organize my profile page and read the summary for Dead and thought, 'Man, I really miss that thing. And I had the whole thing planned out too...' So, I spent the next few hours reading over the story and writing the next chapter. **

**Here it is! And, I've also included an excerpt from the last chapter to remind you where we left off. Enjoy!**

**--**

Danny stared at her blankly. Why were her lips moving if she wasn't saying anything? The edges of his vision began to blur.

"Danny? Danny!" Jazz waved her hands in front of his eyes, but her brother wasn't seeing anything. He was shaking and extremely pale.

And suddenly, he collapsed.

"Oh my God. Danny!"

_**Chapter Ten**_

_Danny dodged frantically to his right, but he could still feel the freezer-box cold that the ghost was emitting. As he landed, he glanced up at the creature. 'Who __is__ this guy? Why aren't my ectoblasts hurting him?'_

_To double check himself, he sent another quick ray of green energy at the ghost, with the same result. Danny narrowed his eyes. 'It's not going through him, either. It's going right __into__ him. Not good. Is he absorbing it?'_

_The monster laughed maniacally and blasted Danny again. The boy managed to dodge a second time, but it was a very narrow miss._

'_I'll have to catch this guy quickly or things'll turn ugly.' There was no denying the fact that several tanks of fuel for freighters were being stored in this old warehouse. Like they didn't have any better place to put the stuff._

'_I wonder… hand to hand?' Anything was worth a shot. Danny rolled quickly to his feet, his eyes never leaving the floating menace, and darted forward with one fist prepped for a punch. His hand hit where the head was supposed to be, but the same dark energy spread out of the ghost, up his arm and was soon coursing painfully through his body. Danny screamed in agony and fell back to the ground. _

_He landed on his back, panting and close to tears. "What… what __are__ you?"_

_For a response, his enemy grinned, showing off glistening fangs._

_Danny tried to push himself to his feet. To his left, the door to the warehouse flew open, banging loudly against the wall. _

"_Okay, spooks! Jack Fenton time!"_

_Danny winced and turned his head apprehensively to the large orange-clad man in the doorway. 'Crap… what's he doing here??' _

"… hasn't been eating or sleeping nearly enough. It's no wonder he collapsed."

"I still think it would be best to take him to the hospital."

"No! I mean, you know how much he hates those places. And he already feels bad enough. I'm sure if we take care of him for the next few days he'll be fine."

Danny groaned and turned his head away from the light, burying his face into the crease between the two cushions on the couch. He felt horrible, and everything was too _much_. Too loud, too bright, too painful. God, he hated migraines.

"Danny?" It was his mother's voice. Her cool hand ran over his hair and across his forehead. It felt nice. "Are you awake, sweetie?"

"Uhn…" he replied.

"Sweetie, can you look at me?"

"Urr… it's too bright in here…" He snuggled deeper into the cushions.

Jazz spoke now. "Danny, you fainted."

Fainted…? _Fainted?_

Danny's eyes popped open, shutting again immediately in reaction to the light. He blinked them several times to help them adjust and turned to squint up at his mother and sister.

"I- I did?"

"Yes," Maddie answered, frowning. "Jazz says Sam climbed through your bedroom window? Did you have an argument? She ran out of here. I think she was crying."

"Oh no…"

Maddie swept his bangs out of his face. They had grown out in the last couple of months. "I know you haven't been eating or sleeping enough. It's my fault… I've been a terrible mother to you."

Danny's eyes widened. "No, no, you haven't," he said quickly. "Don't blame yourself for anything. I was being stupid and selfish and making you guys worry. I should be saying sorry."

The boy stared up at his mother with wide, bloodshot eyes. She stared back, matching his expression.

Jazz laughed softly. "Look at you guys. You're both trying to place the blame on yourselves. What a stupid argument."

Maddie smiled slowly. Danny glanced down at the couch and back at her. He laughed once and laid back down onto the cushion, clutching his side. That unwanted guilt bubbled again into his chest, wrapping around his heart and punching it. It had always been there, except in the few minutes before he fainted. He had known what he wanted then. And what was he even worrying about? The list began to resurface; he felt like vomiting.

Thankfully his mother interrupted the avalanching depression. "If you want to wait a few days before we leave for Vlad's, we can. I told him we might come tomorrow, but I don't really think-"

Danny shook his head. "No, I can go!"

His mother stared. "Does this mean…"

"What?"

"You _want_ to go?"

"No. But we need to."

"…"

Maddie was silent for a minute or so, before saying, "If you're sure… I'm going to heat you up some chicken soup for now. We have to start getting your strength back." She stood and walked quickly into the next room.

The kitchen was a mess. Dust coated the surfaces and there were dirty dishes from… she honestly couldn't remember when they had eaten potato casserole. Or was it spaghetti?

Ignoring the mess, Maddie pulled a pot from the cabinets and a packet of ramen noodles from above the refrigerator. She began to heat the stove and filled the pot with water to boil. As she waited, she frowned deeply at the wall. Something wasn't right. She should've been overjoyed that Danny was finally, _finally_ talking to her and even more so that he wanted to go to Vlad's with her. Or was at least willing to make the journey. But there was something off about the whole conversation. The most normal portion had been the beginning, when her son had been half asleep and not known what was going on. There was still some quality to his voice that was the same as it had been on the roof, when he apologized for letting Jack die.

He was still guilty. It was more of an acceptance at this point. And it wasn't _right_. 'I'm the one that should be guilty. How can I convince him that nothing is his fault?'

Water splashed onto the stove. With a jolt, Maddie realized the water was boiling and stirred the noodles into it.

--

Danny didn't want to pack anything. Nothing seemed very _important_ anymore. That, and Vlad could surely buy anything that he wanted. And the house would still be sitting in Amity Park, gathering dust.

So, Danny gathered only a few outfits into a suitcase, ignoring the still bloodied sheets in his closet. He grabbed one album of Dumpty Humpty, though he had no desire to listen to music, and a journal sitting beside his bed.

Jazz, who was also packing in her room down the hallway, looked in on him. "What? Is that all you're taking?"

"Yeah," he replied simply.

"Are you sure?"

He nodded.

"You know, we _really_ don't have to go. If you told Mom that you wanted to stay here, she would listen. She has to, you're her son."

"Jazz, we _have_ to go."

Jazz furrowed her brow. "Go to bed soon, okay, little brother? You've had a big day."

"Yeah…"

She frowned at him and he stared back. Giving up, Jazz left to continue packing.

--

**Thanks to: ****inukagome15****, ****Conscience-Choo****, ****AvatarKatara38****, ****DannyTimmygirl327****, ****MoonlightUmbreon****, ****Nylah****, ****Kantrix Gabriel****, ****New Ghost Girl****, Rya Starling, ParanormalPrincess  
**


	12. Chapter 11

_**Chapter Eleven**_

Sam sat sullenly on her bed, clutching a bat-shaped pillow and her knees. She stared into the wall. Her dark makeup was smeared underneath her eyes, remnant of the incident that morning.

She hadn't gone to school. Instead, she had run to the park, not minding the rain, and when she got there hugged the large oak and tried to resist screaming. It was her parents that finally brought her home. When they had received the call from Casper High, they immediately sent several maids and butlers out into the city to look for her.

They attempted to give her a lecture about scaring them and skipping school and all loads of nonsense. Sam just started to cry again, so they let her escape to her bedroom.

'Goths don't cry, even if everything they loved has collapsed around them.' She laughed hysterically, and more tears flowed down her face.

--

A loud buzzing wind descended on FentonWorks. Maddie was in the kitchen trying to throw together something for breakfast when it happened. Immediately, she marched up the stairs and to the roof of the OP center to see what was going on.

There was a helicopter hovering above the building, with none other than Vlad Masters piloting it. His gray ponytail flapped in the wind.

"Vlad?!" Maddie shouted.

"Maddie!" he replied, grinning too widely. "My darling, good morning! How are you this fine day?"

She scowled, suddenly remembering why she didn't like the man. Syrup. "Making breakfast."

"Why? We can eat on the jet! I couldn't bring it here of course, so I came to escort you in my _personal helicopter_!"

"Yeah, I was just going to drive to the airport," Maddie muttered.

"Can I land it, my dear? Perhaps I can join you and the kids for a meal? I haven't eaten yet either!"

"Of course you can land it! What were you going to do with it?"

Vlad lowered the copter smoothly onto the roof, cut the power and jumped bouncily onto the roof. He straightened his suit and handkerchief before sweeping Maddie into an embrace. "Oh, Maddie! It pains me that we should have to meet again on these most melancholy of circumstances."

"Really." The woman did not return the gesture. Vlad either did not realize the awkwardness or he did not care.

"So, where are the children?"

"In their rooms. I was just about to get them for breakfast." Maddie turned to go back into the house, Vlad at her heels.

When they reached the kitchen, Vlad exclaimed, "What a mess! How have you stood living in this dump for so long?" Maddie stared. "Oh, but breakfast looks wonderful! Shall I get Daniel and Jasmine for you?"

Maddie narrowed her eyes. "I think I should do it." She thrust a spatula at him. "But you can finish the eggs."

The mother exited in a hurry, inhaling deeply in relief. What in the world was she thinking, staying with Vlad? He hadn't been here five minutes and she wanted to punch his lights out.

"No, Maddie girl, it's for your own good, remember?"

She knocked on Jazz's door first, telling her to come eat. Danny was next.

"Yeah, Mom?"

"Breakfast. And… Vlad's here." There was no reply. "Danny?"

"…Okay. Just a minute."

--

Breakfast was mostly burnt. As social conventions require, Maddie didn't say a word. Vlad smiled at her apologetically, saying something about how he usually had a servant cook for him. She glared back.

Jazz entered soon and was trapped in one of Vlad's hugs.

"Jasmine! It's been so long!"

"Uncle Vlad, how… _nice_ to see you." Jazz patted one of his shoulders.

He released her and stared down at her, face etched into a question mark. "Really, where is Daniel? I've been so worried for him. I know him and Jack were really close."

Maddie nearly dropped a glass onto the floor. "Don't say a word to him, Vlad. I'm warning you."

"But Maddie, I only wish to say how truly sorry I-"

"_Not a word, Vlad_."

The billionaire raised a quizzical brow but let the matter drop. "Well, fine then. That's all good. Maddie, have you been eating enough? You are looking quite thin, and Jasmine too. It worries me."

"A lot has been going on," Jazz whispered. Vlad nodded, frowning.

Danny chose this moment to shuffle into the room. He was carrying a black duffle bag, which he dumped in a heap by the refrigerator.

"Daniel!"

The boy's eyes flicked upwards, met Vlad's for a moment, and returned to the ground. He slumped into his chair at the table.

"Good morning, my boy."

Danny continued to stare at the wood in front of him.

"Now, I know you've not gone mute. Come now, where's the witty banter?"

"Leave him alone, Vlad," Maddie said, bristling. She carried a tray of glasses to the table, filled with orange juice and ice.

Vlad's frown deepened. "Well, it's all very drab in here, isn't it? No one seems even the slightest bit happy to see me."

'So, you finally noticed?' Maddie thought. She filled their plates silently and set them on the table, almost dropping Vlad's.

"Oh, well, I suppose I can understand. It's only been two months." Danny winced and lowered his head. "Daniel?"

"_Vlad," _Maddie growled.

"Fine, I won't even _try_ to have a conversation then."

And breakfast commenced in silence. Danny moved his food around with his fork for a few minutes and then stood. He walked from the room without a word. Vlad stared after him, looking rather bewildered.

"Well, we had better get going now, hadn't we?" The millionaire jumped to his feet and bounded up the stairs, yelling over his shoulder, "Come, Maddie! Time is wasting!"

Maddie glared down at her unfinished meal. She thrust it into the center of the table and left the room.

Danny was sitting curled in the armchair, head resting on his scrunched knees. Maddie touched his shoulder lovingly and whispered, "It's time." He nodded, uncurled and grabbed his duffle bag to leave.

--

Tucker ran down the street. His alarm clock had not gone off that morning, and his parents had assumed he was staying home sick. It didn't help that when they told him to wake up he grumbled, "Go away..." So now the two of them were at work and it was halfway into first period.

He panted, he sweated, and he puffed. It hurt him so badly, exercise did, that he nearly missed seeing the helicopter parked on the Fenton's home. But he did see see it and skidded to a halt.

"What the heck? Dalv... _Vlad_." Tucker scowled, sweat poring down his face. What was Plasmius sticking his nose into now? Was he trying to take advantage of things and finally marry Danny's mom? The creep...

His PDA exploded in a chorus of beeps. "_First bell for First Period_," the computerized voice mocked.

"Crap!" He took a last look at the Dalv copter and shot off, painfully, toward Casper High.

--

**Yay! I had fun writing Vlad. Really, he's one of my favorite villains, second only to Freakshow. By the way, I began writing this story pretty early in the show, so Vlad is not the mayor of Amity Park and still has his mansion in Wisconsin. Yep. **

**Thanks to: inukagome15, AvatarKatara38, DannyTimmygirl327**

**Where are all of my reviewers? I know I haven't updated in a while, but really? (sad Puss-in-Boots eyes) Pweeese?**


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